5 Break-Out Stocks: The Search for Survivors

If investors aren't willing to sell a stock off on a significant downtrend, those names could have strong bids underneath them.

WINDERMERE, Fla. ( Stockpickr) -- U.S. stocks are dropping sharply today after government data showed that the tepid U.S. economy failed to create any new jobs in August, leaving the unemployment rate unchanged at 9.1%. Many market players now fear that another recession could be in the cards since this was the worst jobs report in 11 months. It was also the first time since 1945 that the U.S. government reported a monthly net job change of zero.

As of most recent check, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off by 241 points at 11,252.33 and the S&P 500 was trading down by 29 points to 1,175.40. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was trending down by 65 points lower to 2,480.87.

I personally love days like today because stocks that have relative strength stick out in the weak tape. If investors aren't willing to sell a stock off on a downtrend day like today, then those names could have strong bids underneath them. Reading the tape like this can often get you into stocks early before they trend significantly higher.

Some names that aren't going down today include the following: Acme Packet ( APKT), Universal Display ( PANL), Great Basin Gold ( GBG), MAKO Surgical ( MAKO), SodaStream ( SODA) and Molycorp ( MCP). These are names that warrant a deeper look since an almost 200-point down day on the Dow is failing to bring out sellers in these stocks.

The top traders in the world know that markets are made up of thousands of stocks and tons of sectors. With so many moving parts, there's always some sector or stock that's acting strong and doing its own thing. Trading breakouts is not a new game on Wall Street. This strategy has been by legendary traders such as William O'Neal, Stan Weinstein and Nicolas Darvas.